FOOTNOTES:
[707] “Shakespeare and His Times,” 1817, vol. i. p. 220.
[708] On entering into any contract, or plighting of troth, the clapping of the hands together set the seal, as in the “Winter’s Tale” (i. 2), where Leontes says:
“Ere I could make thee open thy white hand,
And clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter
I am yours forever.”
So, too, in “The Tempest” (iii. 1):
“Miranda.My husband, then?
Ferdinand. Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e’er of freedom: here’s my hand.
Miranda. And mine, with my heart in’t.”
And in the old play of “Ram Alley,” by Barry (1611), we read, “Come, clap hands, a match.” The custom is not yet disused in common life.
[709] “The Stratford Shakespeare,” 1854, vol. i p. 70.
[710] Knight’s “Stratford Shakespeare,” p. 73.
[711] Cf. “King John” (ii. 2):
“King Philip.Young princes, close your hands.
Austria. And your lips too; for, I am well assured,
That I did so, when I was first assured.”
[712] See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 363; “Archæologia,” vol. xiv. p. 7; Jones’s “Finger Ring Lore,” 1877, pp. 313-318.
[713] See Jeaffreson’s “Brides and Bridals,” 1873, vol. i. pp. 77, 78.
[714] Sops in wine.
[715] See “Brand’s Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 136, 139.
[716] “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. ii. p. 140.
[717] “Brides and Bridals,” 1873, vol. i. p. 252.
[718] “Brides and Bridals,” vol. i. p. 177.
[719] See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. pp. 131-133.
[720] “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” p. 203.
[721] “Brides and Bridals,” vol. i. p. 98; see Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. ii. p. 175.
[722] See Douce’s “Illustrations of Shakespeare,” pp. 123, 124.
[723] See Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” 1849, vol. ii. p. 159.
[724] See “Merry Wives of Windsor,” iv. 2.
[725] See Potter’s “Antiquities of Greece;” Brand’s “Pop. Antiq.,” vol. iii. p. 306.
[727] See Nares’s “Glossary,” vol. ii. p. 563.